De tweede verdieping van een bordeel 1804

Kitagawa Utamaro’s woodblock print presents us with a scene from the second floor of a brothel. Here, the faces behind the bars remind one of caged birds, their expressions a mix of expectation and resignation, and the composition hints at a sense of confinement. The image is bisected. The upper half reveals an array of women behind a railing, while the lower half contains symbols of purification and renewal, such as drums and ceremonial objects. The placement of the women above and these symbols below creates a dialectic between desire and ritual cleansing. This tension is seen in various cultures throughout time, where sacred rites attempt to purify spaces of earthly pleasure. Here, Utamaro presents the viewer with the cyclical nature of these spaces—always in need of cleansing, always to be revisited. The artist captures the ever-turning wheel of life.